Tragic News – Jake Anderson Mourns Another Member of the ‘Deadliest Catch’ Family
Captain Jake Anderson receives bad news about a friend in the next episode of Discovery Channel’s ‘Deadliest Catch.’
In a clip from the Sept. 24 installment of the Discovery Channel reality series, Jake gets a call from his wife, Jenna. Unfortunately, she has to tell him that a friend and beloved member of the fishing community has died.
Jake Anderson of ‘Deadliest Catch’ | Discovery Channel
“I gotta talk to you,” Jenna tells her husband in a shaky voice in the sneak peek (via X). “It’s Tom.”
“Is he OK?” a nervous Jake asks.
Jenna goes on to tell Jake that Tom Brossard has died. Brossard was the engineer on Jake’s previous boat, the F/V Saga.
“He just had a heart attack or something,” Jenna adds. “It just happened. She’s at the hospital. He didn’t make it.”
‘Deadliest Catch’ star says Tom Brossard was his ‘best friend’
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Jake is clearly stunned to hear that Tom has died.
“Tom was my best friend. Him and I rebuilt the f*cking Saga. We rebuilt the bow, we rebuilt the stern, we rebuilt the bathroom, we rebuilt the floors,” he says as he starts to break down.
According to an obituary posted online, Brossard died in January 2024 in the Phillippines. He was 64 years old.
Brossard “worked most of his life on boats and ships in Seattle,” the obit noted. “For the past several years he was an engineer on the Deadliest Catch boat The Saga. It was hard work but he enjoyed working in the industry and with the boat’s crew.”
Jake Anderson’s uncle and ‘Deadliest Catch’ co-star Nick Mavar Jr. also died this year
Losing a close friend is not the only tragedy Jake Anderson has experienced in 2024. In June, his uncle Nick Mavar Jr. died at age 59 after experiencing a medical emergency at a boatyard in Alaska. Mavar was a deckhand on the F/V Northwestern and appeared on nearly 100 episodes of Deadliest Catch before leaving the show in 2021.
After Mavar’s death, Jake posted a poetic tribute to him on Facebook. He recalled how his uncle was “the one person that gave me the hope.” (Jake had previously opened up about how his uncle helped him when he was struggling with substance abuse.) He also reflected on Mavar’s legacy and “the amount of love he left this earth in the palm of just one of his hands.”
Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream on Max.